Autonomous driving startup Holomatic said it had completed an “exclusive” round of financing with Chinese state owned GAC Group, generating hundreds of millions of yuan for the company.
The two companies signed an agreement last October to collaborate on development of Level 2 autonomous driving technology, including autonomous parking. The direct investment by GAC Group would provide a stronger foundation for the two companies to collaborate in the development of more advanced technology, including Level 3 and above.
Holomatic said the investment by GAC Group, an automaker based in Guangzhou, would “help integrate the two companies’ strengths while accelerating the rapid progress of GAC’s automated driving programme”.
The company also said it expected the deal would help reduce the cost to GAC Group of bringing autonomous technology to market.
GAC was expected to launch several models equipped with Holomatic’s autonomous driving systems this year.
Last year the group also began collaborating with local technology company DiDi Chuxing to develop a purpose-built autonomous vehicle targeting China’s emerging robotaxi market.